Unforeseen heroics lift Vista Murrieta to another title

Broncos get boost from Alumbres in field events

WALNUT  Claiming a CIF Southern Section Boys Track and Field championship is becoming an annual May tradition for the Vista Murrieta High boys.

For the fourth consecutive year, the Vista Murrieta boys won the CIF-SS Division I team championship on Saturday at Mount San Antonio College.

But this year, by no means, did the Broncos take the easy road.

With unexpected finishes in the 400 relay and the 800 meters, along with a disqualification in the 110 hurdles, Vista Murrieta’s bid for a fourth title started to look bleak.

“This was a crazy day,” Coley Candaele said. “We went through some ups and downs. We had injuries and a DQ, and at one point I thought that we might be out of it.”

In search of points, the Broncos needed an unexpected hero.

And that’s exactly what they got from sophomore CJ Alumbres.

Alumbres finished third in the long jump with a 22-7.5 and fourth in the triple jump with a 44-11.25.

“He stepped up today,” Candaele said. “We expected him to get us four points, and he ended up giving us 11. This team knew coming in here that it was going to take a whole team effort and that’s what they did, everyone contributed.”

Alumbres said that he knew the pressure that was on him.

“After the shot put, my teammates told me that I was going to have to pop a big one of the triple jump,” Alumbres said. “I was a little nervous, but when I was on the run way I just told myself that this was my time.”

The Broncos secured the championship with a win in the 1,600 relay.

“This is amazing,” senior Deondrae Brooks, who anchored the relay, said. “I have been having back pain this week and I just sucked it up in the last 100 yards, I saw that finish line and I had to go.”

Candaele said that this championship was more satisfying then its predecessors because of the fact that he didn’t expect it at the start of the season.

“We really didn’t know what we had,” Candaele said. “We were honestly just hoping to compete for league, but we started to get better and better and those points just started to add up.”

The Great Oak boys finished second, just 9 1/2 points behind its Southwestern League rival, and brought home a CIF champion in shot putter Nick Ponzio.

Ponzio, who finished runner up in the event last year, won the competition with a 65-9 toss in his third attempt. The senior had three throws over the 65-foot mark in the best legal series of his career.

“After I threw my safety, I just knew that I had so much more left,” Ponzio said. “One of my goals has always been to win state, so I’m excited to move on and seeing what happens.”

The Wolfpack also got a CIF Champion on the girl’s side in Jade Miller, who won the 300 hurdles in a time of 41.15.

Paloma Valley’s Kiara McIntosh claimed the championship in the 800 with a time of 2:12.15, while Murrieta Mesa’s Kim Dargel won the Division II 100 hurdles with a time of 14.41.